Automatic air-coupling device for railway-trains.



C..L. TURNER, P. E. WHITEHEAD & S. C. CLARKE.

AUTOMATIC'AIR COUPLING DEViICE FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-11,19l5.

1,21 9,055. Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

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C. L. TURNER, P. E.- WHITEHEAD & S. C. CLARKE. AUTOMATIC AIR COUPLING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 11. 1915.

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CLAUD L. TURNER, PERRY E. WHITEHEAD, AND SYE C. GLABKE, OF GERING, NEBRASKA.

AUTOMATIC AIR-COUPLING DEVICE FOR RAILWAY-TRAINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 13, 1917.

Application filed November 17, 1815. Serial No. 61,972.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that we, CLAUD L. TURNER, PERRY E. WHITEHEAD, and SYE-C. Cninnn, citizens of the United States, residing at Gering, in the county of Scotts Bluff, State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Air- Coupling Devices for Railway-Trains; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an automatic air coupling device for railway trains.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of a device which may be readily attached to cars of existing types without the reconstruction of said cars.

A further object of the invention resides in so constructing the device that when the train is going around a curve its efliciency will not be decreased.

A still further object of the invention resides in so constructing the device that the air pipes of two cars will be coupled together automatically irrespective of whether or not the floor level of one car is above that of the other.

A still further object of the invention resides in constructing the device in such manner that the coupling heads may be separated without necessitating the uncoupling of the cars.

With these and other objects in view such as will appear as our description progresses, our invention comprises the combination and arrangement of parts as set forth in and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a device constructed in accordance with our invention showing the same attached to two ox cars;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of our device;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing one of the rear carriers;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing one of the front carriers,

Fig. 5 is a detail of one of the coupling heads, and

Fig. 6 is an elevation of the same.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters wherein like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the several views:

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, we have illustrated a pair of box cars 1 and 2 which are secured together by the ordinary coupler 3. We have illustrated these cars merely to show the manner in which our device is mounted. Secured to and extending downwardly from the floor of each car is what we term a front carrier. This carrier consists of a rectangular frame 1 which is supported by suitable braces 5, which extend to the sides and to the rear of the carrier and are secured to the car. Mounted within the frame 1 is a similar frame 6 which is secured to the first frame by clips '7. A plate 8 is locatedwithin this inner frame 6 and is supported by a pair of rods 9 which are slidable through the lower bars of both of the frames 4 and 6. The plate 8 is urged upwardly, normally, by coil springs 10. A

similar plate 11 is mounted in spaced relation and above the first plate 8 and this plate is urged downwardly by a coil spring 12 which surrounds a rod 13. Side plates 14 are mounted and'extend at right angles to the plates 8 and 11. These plates 14: are normally urged together by coil springs 15 which surround rods16 which are slidable in the side bars of the frames 4 and 6. These plates 8, 11 and 14 form guides in a manner which will later appear. The front carriers which we have described are mounted close to "the ends of the cars as illustrated in Fig. 1 ofthe drawing. Mounted in spaced relation to the front carriers, inwardly from the ends of the cars, are what we term rear carriers. These rear carriers consist of plates 17 which are secured, at 18, to the floors of the cars and the lower ends are supported by braces 19 which extend to the sides and to the rear of the plates. Each of these plates is provided with a slot 20 at its lower end, which slot extends horizontally. A pair of abutments 21 are slidably mounted in this slot 20 and include coil springs 22 which surround rods 23, which rods are slidable in the plate 17. These abutments 21 also act as guides as will later appear. Extending between the plates 21 on the rear carrier and the plates 8, 11 and 14 on the front carrier is a rod 24 which is slidably supported by these plates and the element 17.

which couplings the ordinary This rod has on one end a coupling head which is adapted to coiiperate with the companion head on the adjacent car. Surrounding each of the rods 2-l is a coil spring 26 which bears against a shoulder on the rod and against a collar 28, .vhich collar in turn bears against the rear carrier. As illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing these springs 26 operate to force the heads 2:") together when the cars are coupled together. Each of these heads is provided with a substantially conical lug 29 and with a correspondingly shaped socket 530 so that when the heads are forced together the lug on one will penetrate the socket on the other and because of the fact that the lugs are substantially conical in forr ion. the heads will be coupled together properly even it one should ha ipen to be, before coupli slightly b low the otheia Each of th heals is provided with achamber Bl from which a nipple extends, which nipple extends through the lower face of the head.

hese chambers 31 are arranged that they will aline when the heads are brought together and in oroer that they may be made air tight, each is provided with a.

gasket Connected to each of the nipples 32 is a flexible pipe 3t which is provided with an air hose coupling 35, to air hose 36 is adapted to be connected. it will thus be seen that when two cars are coupled together that the heads will be coupled together properly and will be held in contact with each other by the springs 26.

N ow in order that the heads 25 may be separated without necessitating the uncoupling of the cars so that new gaskets may be placed in the heads we have provided a lever 37 which is pivoted, at 38, to each rear carrier and extends through an opening in the end of the adjacent rod 24. Secured to the upper end, pivotally, of each of these levers 37 is a rod 39 which extends through a comparatively larger opening in the rear carrier and has connected to its other end, by means of a loop it), a pair of divergent rods 41 which extend to the opposite cor ners of the car, so as to lie upon opposite sides of the coupling, and are provided with handles 42. When pressure is applied to these handles, the lever 37 will be moved so that the rod 24 will be moved through its supporting guides and the heads separated.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a simple and ethcient device which will automatically couple the air brake systems of cars together irrespective of whether or not the cars are loaded so as to bring the floors on the same level and we have provided the carriers with springs so that the de ice will operate successfully even when the cars are turning a curve.

.Vhile we haveoillustrated and described a particular embodiment, of our invention,

it has merely been for the sake of convenience and we do not wish to be limited to that particular embodiment as it is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is: 1. In an air coupler, the combination with a pair of coupler heads having elongated shanks, of forward and rear frames supporting the heads, each of the forward frames including a fixed rectangular element, and a second rectangular element inclosed within the first element and having spring connections with the latter, a set of intersliding plates inclosing the shanks of the cougler heads and lying in the plane of the inner element, rods slidably mounted in the sides of the inner and outer rectangular elements, and springs carried by said rods and bearing between the sides of the inner element and the corresponding plates.

2. In an air coupler, the combination with a pair of coupler heads having elongated shanks, of forward and rear frames supporting the heads, each of the forward frames including a fixed rectangular element, and a second. rectangular element inclosed within the first element and having spring connections with the latter, a set of intersliding plates inclosing the shanks of the coupler heads and lying in the plane of the inner element, rods slidably mounted in the sides of the inner-and outer rectangular elements, springs carried by said rods and hearing between the sides of the inner ele ment and the corresponding plates, means :tor i'esil'ently throwing the heads forward, levers pivoted upon the rear frames and connected to the shanks of the coupler heads, and links connected to the opposite ends of the levers and extending forwardly into proximity with the coupler heads for the manual retraction of the heads from one another.

In testimony whereof, we affix our signatures, in the presence of two witnesses.

CLAUD L. TURNER. PERRY E. WHITEHEAD. SYE C. CLARKE. lVitnesses MILES J. HOFFMAN, FoREsT D. TURNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

